Saturday, May 23, 2009

This is your grandfather’s whiskey sour. Unless your grandfather, like my maternal grandfather, was a tee-totaling Baptist minister. If so, not to worry.

In much the same way Mormons search genealogical records and posthumously baptize deceased relatives, I unearth classic cocktail recipes and sample all the great 40s and 50s drinks my grandfather foolishly left unordered. He used to travel regularly to Cuba (back before Castro took over) to pester the Cubans about Jesus.

He took my prim, temperance-minded grandmother along, so we’re pretty sure he never made it to the Copa. However, in researching booze of that era, I discovered mojitos long before they became fashionable enough to become a chewing gum flavor.

I think whiskey sours are poised for a similar comeback. I’ve long enjoyed them and have taken some ribbing on that account since they’re considered “old fashioned.” But the classics never truly go out of style. This month’s edition of Gourmet magazine featured a whiskey sour recipe, so I guess they’re back.

There are about a gazillion whiskey sour recipes, but here’s the one I favor. This makes a shaker-full, so be sure to invite a friend to share. Or arrange transportation!

Pour whiskey, syrup and lemon juice into a shaker. Fill with ice and shake. Dispense into short glass filled with crushed ice, leaving about three-quarters of an inch to the rim. Add orange slice and a cherry or two. Top with club soda. Stir and serve to a grateful public.

by Ruger T. Glocknein
Senior Fellow at the Brookings Project for the New American Enterprise, a conservative thinktank, which differs from a regular tank in that you might actually find a neocon inside one

First off, I’ll say that food photography is an art. If anyone has any hints for making a dish like the one above look like something that didn’t get dredged from a swamp, still wriggling and hissing, then I’m all ears. But it tasted great.

It’s one of my favorite meals - pesto and pasta. I may be preaching to the converted here, but in case anyone hasn’t encountered pesto yet, it’s a sauce made of pulverised, uncooked ingredients, originally prepared in a pestle and mortar, but nowadays as likely to be whizzed up in a blender.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Here are the header, subhead and beginning of the associated article that, of course, the wingnuts are getting all frothy over:

Sobbing Kindergarteners Snubbed for Steelers?

Kids locked out of White House; officials say they were too late

Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip. But when they arrived, all the 5-year-olds got was a lesson in disappointment.

The buses from Conway Elementary arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a little later than planned, and they were locked out.

“We were going to the White House, but we couldn’t get in so I felt sad,” 5-year-old Cameron Stine said.

Parents say they were just 10 minutes late for their scheduled tour. School officials say White House staff said they needed to get ready for the president’s event with the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, so they couldn’t come in.

“I was angry cause they were disappointed,” parent and chaperone Paty Stine said.

To add to the outrage, Stine adds this bit of teabaggery into the mix:

“Here we have President Obama and his administration saying, ‘Here we are for the common, middle class people,’ and here he is not letting 150 5- and 6-year-olds into the White House because he’s throwing a lunch for a bunch of grown millionaires,” Stine said.

Of course, a key bit of info is buried near the end:

The White House tells a slightly different story. A spokesperson said the group was actually supposed to be there at 9:30, but they held the gates for the group until 10:30, 15 minutes longer than they told the group, but when they still hadn’t arrived, they had to draw the line.

Stafford County Public Schools and Conway Elementary School appreciate the efforts of the White House staff on behalf of the kindergarten field trip to the White House yesterday (May 21). The kindergarten teachers and school staff planned the outing and knew ahead of time that if the group arrived late, they would not be able to tour the White House. The school’s White House contact and the White House staff made every effort to accommodate the visit and extended the arrival time as long as they possibly could.

The school principal, Roxie Cooper, and the kindergarten teachers made adjustments in the educational components of the trip and took the opportunity to teach the children about life’s disappointments. The classes discussed that sometimes in life things do not go as planned and we make adjustments. “Even though the schedule changed, the learning continued,” said School principal, Roxie Cooper.

“We commend our kindergarten students and the many chaperones that showed resilience and positive attitudes,” continued Ms. Cooper. The White House has been in contact with the school administration regarding the possibility of rescheduling the tour and has been extremely supportive of the Conway Cougars visit.

- Valerie Cottongim, Public Information Officer

The school acknowledges that it was their fault and that the White House “made every effort to accommodate the visit and extended the arrival time as long as they possibly could,” but one angry mother (possibly with an agenda) gets to drive the story. Thanks Stupid Media!

Man, I completely suck sometimes. Yesterday I forgot to wish our beloved, delightful, talented and hilarious Mrs. Polly a very happy birthday, so please join me in wishing her heartfelt best wishes and gobs of good luck down the road. Happy birthday, Mrs. Polly!

Is there a banana republic somewhere that can be offered a bribe sufficient to take the Cheneys off our hands? Not just Dick, but the whole lying, dissembling, weasel-faced, treasonous bunch—Lynne, Liz and Mary too as a package deal? I’d gladly kick in additional tax dollars to bankroll a pseudo-ranch house, complete with Western figurines, plaster cattle skulls and boldly striped polyester serapes draped artfully over low-slung Naugahyde sofas.

We should make Dick an offer he can’t refuse – a Ponderosa-themed compound (location to be determined) or a one-way ticket to The Hague. Go quietly, or you are going down, Beelzebubba.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Despite the media frenzy (if by “frenzy” you mean FauxNews) over the RNC’s special meeting called primarily for the purpose of passing a resolution to rename the Democratic Party the Democrat Socialist Party, Michael Steele, the forward looking RNC Chairman, managed to convince them to just tell the Democrats not to be so damned Socialist instead.

“Resolved, that we the members of the Republican National Committee recognize that the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals,” it reads

While this made Chairman Steele happy, the actual Democratic Socialist party was not.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) weren’t happy either. But they didn’t like it because it stole their name. In a statement released earlier today, the national director of the DSA, slammed the effort.

“[The resolution] demonstrates the extremist views that now dominate the RNC. This is a continuation of the silly and surreal socialist baiting that Republicans engaged in during the 2008 Campaign (when they equated progressive tax reform with socialism!) and which the voters soundly rejected,” Frank Llewellyn said.

I’m assuming it was not cheap to put on this Super Important Special Meeting but IYAR you gotta do what you gotta do.

As a friend succinctly puts it, “When that big asteroid finally heads toward Earth, who’s the person you’d most want to be in charge?” I suspect Cheney would score at or near the top.

I didn’t know you could waterboard asteroids. That must take a big-ass sponge. [via AMC]

MORE: Jim Geraghty may have won the Terror PrØn competition at NRO with this entry...

Obama’s speech was about theory, and even in this circumstance, where a foiled plot to blow up synagogues in the Bronx isn’t even the biggest news of the day, it felt professorial, esoteric, abstract, and strikingly lacking in specifics. I can only imagine how this will sound when there are bodies in the streets.

I’m writing a screenplay where the super hero is a conservative (Captain America? Not sure if that’s taken.) and he has to fight this gang of awesomely mighty villains called The Gitmos who can burn through metal bars with white-hot rays from their eyeballs, blow up quaint rural communities with their minds, and are so powerful they can even get a Muslim who wasn’t born in America elected president. It’s gonna be totally amazing, but I still can’t get past the first scene where Captain America is curled up in a ball on the floor, crying, wetting himself, and whimpering about Congress keeping The Gitmos in Cuba. Any good ideas? I’ve got a limited window of opportunity. Thx!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, under pressure from Republicans eager to brand them as ready to release terrorists into America’s backyards, prepared Tuesday to strip $80 million for closing the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, out of a war-spending bill.

I understand where Kevin’s coming from, and it’s not that I don’t share his frustration with Harry Reid’s leadership; however, some historical perspective may be in order. The man is, after all, not only a distinguished United States senator, but also a member of a political dynasty that dates back to even before the birth of our great nation.

IN THEIR OWN MOUSY WORDS: REIDS THROUGHOUT THE AGESCompiled by Scared Shitlett’s Familiar Quotations

“I have not yet begun to fight! And shan’t!”

“England expects every man to do his duty. But I always thought of us more as ‘guys,’ frankly.”

“Damn! Torpedos!”

“I regret I have but one life to give for my country. If I had two or three, rest assured it would be SO ON right now.”

“Hey, you got any extra liberty laying around? If so, would you mind giving me liberty? No big.”

“We have nothing to fear but…” (unravels scroll)

“We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall… hey, who put in all this stuff about streets and fields and landing strips? I thought we agreed to stick with beaches.”

“Pharoah, let my people have ten-minute breaks every eight hours!”

“J’d like t’accuse, but J’wouldn’t want to put anyone on le defensive.”

“I’m not interested in re-hashing the old debate as to whether we landed on Plymouth Rock or Plymouth Rock landed on us, and engaging in a partisan witch-hunt to lay blame on whoever dropped it isn’t going to make us any less flattened; the question now is, going forward, how do we best extricate ourselves from underneath Plymouth Rock? That’s what the American people care about. That and jobs.”

“I’ve been to the mountaintop, and I’m not fearing ANY man, mostly because you can’t plunge to your death falling off even the TALLEST of men. Seriously, have you been up that mountain? DAMN that shit’s steep.”

“Mr. Gorbachev, are you sure about the wall?”

“54-40 or not!”

(updated because, as we all know, if you keep picking at it, it’ll only make it better)

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/20/09 at 07:17 PM
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Apologies for the second Maddow video of the day, but this definitely needs to go viral…

Queerty is pissed about the firing of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach and you should be, too (spare me the “at least now he can’t kill innocent babies” tomfoolery). If you’d like to register your displeasure with the White House like I hope you did regarding the case of Lt. Daniel Choi (more here), you can do that here.